Caroline Wozniacki beats Ana Ivanovic

Caroline Wozniacki beats Ana Ivanovic to reach Dubai Open semifinals.

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia defeated US Open champion Sam Stosur 6-4, 6-2 Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships. Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki also reached the semifinals by defeating the other Serbian quarterfinalist, Ana Ivanovic, 6-3, 7-5. Wozniacki is the highest-seeded player left in Dubai at No. 3 after top-ranked Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the tournament Wednesday because of an ankle injury.

The eighth-seeded Jankovic was in control throughout the match as the fourth-seeded Stosur struggled with her game. The Australian seemed to rush her shots for much of the first set, hitting the ball early and returning it long and wide. Stosur broke Jankovic early in the second, but the Serb broke right back and then pulled ahead 5-2 before wrapping up the match in 1 hour, 30 minutes.

"I'm happy with the win," Jankovic said. "It's never easy. Against her, we always have tough matches." The 26-year-old Serbian player also defeated Stosur in last year's quarterfinals in Dubai. "I think the key was my return," Jankovic said. "You know, she (Stosur) has one of the best, if not the best, serves in the women's game. It's never easy to return her serve.

"But usually she likes to serve and then start dictating the point with her forehand. I didn't really allow her to do that ... I was pretty much in control the whole time," Jankovic said. Stosur was disappointed she missed a chance to bounce back from last year's loss to Jankovic, "I definitely didn't play as well today," Stosur said. "I mean, she played all right. She served quite well. I felt like I was getting pushed back. "I think today she stayed up on the baseline quite well and I didn't," Stosur said.

"But I think it was more that I don't think my forehand was as good as what it needed to be." Jankovic will meet fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals on Friday. The Polish player advanced after defeating ninth-seeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany, 6-2, 6-1. Wozniacki will play the winner of Thursday's last third-round match between two unseeded players, Germany's Julia Goerges and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/tennis/top-stories/Caroline-Wozniacki-beats-Ana-Ivanovic-to-reach-Dubai-Open-semifinals/articleshow/12009722.cms

Sydney wobble for Wozniacki

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki escaped a major scare to scrape into the quarter-finals of the Sydney International after a 7-5 2-6 6-4 win over Dominika Cibulkova.

The world number one was 4-0 down in the deciding set but fought back to win six games in a row and complete a battling victory in a match that lasted almost two-and-a-half hours.

Wozniacki had earlier edged a first set that contained several breaks of serve, but her game started to fall apart in the second and early stages of the third.

The unseeded Slovakian evened things up and seemed set for a shock win when she secured two early breaks of serve in the decider.

It was then Cibulkova's turn to run in to trouble, however, as a resurgent Wozniacki managed to eke out a victory and set-up a last eight clash with Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Andrea Petkovic 7-5 6-4.

"I thought I had lost the match. I decided to play free, not care about the score anymore, and it worked out," Wozniacki said.

Second seed Petra Kvitova also dropped a set but eventually progressed to the quarter-finals with a 7-5 3-6 6-4 win over Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania.

Source: http://www1.skysports.com/tennis/news/12110/7421037/Sydney-wobble-for-Wozniacki

Wozniacki still tops women’s rankings

Even though she lost the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Germany on the weekend, Caroline Wozniacki continues to lead the WTA women's tennis rankings released Monday.

The Dane, who was beaten by local favourite Julia Goerges in straight sets in the final in Stuttgart, leads ahead of Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

The only change in the top ten was the swapping of places between Australian Samantha Stosur and China's Li Na, with Stosur moving back into sixth.

WTA top 10 as of April 25 (previous ranking in parenthesis):

1. (1) Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, 9,970 points

2. (2) Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 8,115

3. (3) Vera Zvonareva, Russia, 7,615

4. (4) Francesca Schiavone, Italy, 4,892

5. (5) Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 4,630

6. (7) Samantha Stosur, Australia, 4,336

7. (6) Li Na, China, 4,300

8. (8) Jelena Jankovic, Serbia, 4,235

9. (9) Maria Sharapova, Russia, 3,726

10. (10) Serena Williams, United States, 3,035 – Sapa-dpa

Caroline Wozniacki continues to lead women’s rankings

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark continues to lead the WTA women’s tennis rankings ahead of Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

Going into the tournament in Stuttgart, at which seven of the top ten will be participating, Wozniacki is on 9,930 points to give her a commanding 1,815 point lead from Clijsters in the rankings released on Monday.

WTA top 10 as of April 18 (previous ranking in parenthesis): 1. (1) Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, 9,930 points 2. (2) Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 8,115 3. (3) Vera Zvonareva, Russia, 7,555 4. (4) Francesca Schiavone, Italy, 4,892 5. (5) Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 4,630 6. (7) Li Na, China, 4,300 7. (6) Samantha Stosur, Australia, 4,256 8. (8) Jelena Jankovic, Serbia, 4,235 9. (9) Maria Sharapova, Russia, 3,726 10. (10) Serena Williams, United States, 3,035.

Caroline Wozniacki wins Family Circle Cup

World number one Caroline Wozniacki eased through her first match in the Family Circle Cup in Charleston with a 6-1 6-1 demolition of Irina Falconi.

Wozniacki, 20, took a 5-0 lead before rattling off six unanswered games to seal her American opponent's fate.

"I'm feeling good on clay, so it's exciting," said Wozniacki.

Second seed Samantha Stosur followed Wozniacki into the third round with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Germany's Patricia Mayr-Achleitner.

French fourth seed Marion Bartoli made an early exit, beaten 6-2 6-3 by 2009 Charleston champion Sabine Lisicki of Germany.

Maria Kirilenko, seeded ninth, fell victim to Anna Tatishvili as the Georgian qualifier recovered from the loss of the first set to triumph 5-7 7-5 6-3.

Wozniacki was forced to retire during last year's semi-final match against Russia's Vera Zvonareva when she hurt her ankle sliding on the green clay court.

"You think about it sometimes a little bit, especially when you go after drop shots," said the Dane.

"But on the other hand, this is a tournament that I've always enjoyed playing and centre court is so cosy."

Wozniacki, winner of titles this year in Dubai and Indian Wells, encountered little resistance from the 128th-ranked Falconi, who had never before faced a number one player.

"She was playing good, but I felt like I could put that extra step into the ball," added Wozniacki. "I made winners on the right chances."

World number five Stosur said her status as defending champion had given her a boost.

"I think it definitely lifts your shoulders up a little bit and puts a smile on your face," said the Australian.

World number eight Jelena Jankovic, the third seed and winner in 2007, also advanced, beating Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-2 6-3.

Russia's Nadia Petrova and Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova, seventh and 10th seeds respectively, also cruised through without any trouble.

Petrova saw off Romania Edina Gallovits 6-1 6-1, while Hantuchova eased past Evgeniya Rodina of Russia 6-0 6-1.

Relentless consistency makes Wozniacki a strong World No.1

The casual tennis fan finds the lull between the Australian Open and the Parisian clay an exercise in thumb twiddling.

The more observant one on the other hand, salivates the moment the Indian Wells tennis tournament gets underway, for it rarely fails to draw the top ranked players from both the men's and women's game.

For all the disappointment surrounding her loss to Li Na in the Australian Open, Caroline Wozniacki has continued to do what she does best. Just go out and play! Even her biggest critic could not possibly argue against her twin strengths of fitness and consistency. Her opponent in today's final, Marion Bartoli had been playing for the past two years without any success, so the match represented her chance to remind the tennis fan of that glorious fortnight at SW19 in 2007, where she used all her French bravardo to get to the final.

As it played out, the match gave us some very high quality tennis,with the defence of Wozniacki refusing to break down in the face of an extremely brave comeback from Bartoli. Wozniacki eventually prevailed 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

From the very start Wozniacki kept hitting the ball deep, absorbing the power off the Bartoli groundstrokes. In the very first game, with Bartoli serving, a cross court backhand winner after running her opponent ragged from side to side, gave Caroline the early lead. It was also an indication of how the first set would go.

Even though Bartoli would break back immediately, it proved to be the only game she would win in the entire set. She kept being forced into errors as Wozniacki expertly moved her around the court. The Dane didn't hit too many winners, but ensured that the point was always long enough for Bartoli to make the mistake.

It also did not help that Bartoli struggled mightily on her serve. She faced break points in every single game and one single statistic is enough evidence in this case to prove just how dominant Wozniacki was in the return game. Bartoli won but 3 points on her own serve!

The first set seemed indicative of a quick match and the restless crowd did not seem overly keen to encourage a fightback. After all, there was the mouth watering prospect of the Nadal - Djokovic match on the men's side and most of them must have thought of the women's final as some kind of unknown opening act, before the supergroup took the stage.

Bartoli though evoked the spirit of her most famous win. In the Wimbledon semi-final against the now retired Justine Henin, she had lost the first set 1-6 and had fought back to win the match. From the recesses of her brain, those happy moments rose to the fore with a simply delightful display of agressive tennis. She won her first service game with a thumping ace and then proceeded to attack the Wozniacki serve.

The second game of the second set proved to be pivotal as Wozniacki was taken to deuce and the points became longer and longer but this time Bartoli was finding all the lines and all the angles. A scorching backhand cross court return set up the break point and Bartoli was rewarded for her efforts in the form of a 2-0 lead. She held her serve easily and in the face of this assault, the Dane seemed to need some paternal guidance and Piotr stepped out to the court to offer some advice to his ward.

Wozniacki finally managed to hold serve and get on the board for the second set and then fought her way to deuce on the Bartoli serve, but the Frenchwoman was undeterred by this brief semblance of a comeback, as she maintained her composure and took a 4-1 lead.

Bartoli's serve continued to move from strength to strength and the Danish number 1 had no answer, especially from the backhand wing and with another break of serve, the Indian Wells final moved to the final set, with the Frenchwoman in the ascendancy and the Dane wondering how a match she so singularly dominated had turned on its head so quickly.

The third set began with Bartoli serving and the rallies were long and of high quality. The opening game went to deuce. Wozniacki managed to win one of the longest points in the match and got her foot in the door with a break point. A sweet backhand pass down the line gave Caroline another break point. Bartoli was breathing heavily now, a sign that her inferior fitness might be tested soon.

Wozniacki broke and took the early lead as both players rushed for their towels after that exhausting game. Wozniacki held serve and then had a chance to take a commanding lead when Bartoli's next service game presented her with a 0-40 opportunity , however the Frenchwoman fought back gamely and Wozniacki's backhand inexplicably lost its range on three straight points. Bartoli had kept the bleeding to a minimum but she still had to recover from the early break.

On her next service game though, Bartoli served 2 double faults, in what was her worst service game of the match and got broken to love. Wozniacki was 4-1 up and the writing was on the wall. The Frenchwoman did manage to break back once and thus get back to 4-3, but the double break was just too much to overcome and in the end Caroline Wozniacki proved why at the end of the day, her relentless consistency is what makes her number 1 in the world.

Caroline Wozniacki on her way to becoming an 'it' girl

The victory by Caroline Wozniacki in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships sets up a fascinating storyline for the 2011 season, and the women's game almost certainly will benefit from it.

Perhaps more than any other sport, tennis thrives on star power, and Wozniacki is beginning to have that "it" look.

Reclaiming the world No 1 ranking while on the grounds of the Aviation Club last week would seem to stamp her as a player unlikely to fade back into the pack, and just in time to give Kim Clijsters a real rival.

The women's game is a bit battered at the moment. Several of the most glamorous players are hurt (Serena and Venus Williams) or struggling (Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic) or newly disappeared (Justine Henin), but Wozniacki seems to be ready to step up as an enduring addition to the game's elite.

The fear was almost palpable that her run at the top might be as fleeting as those of Jelena Jankovic or Ivanovic, leaving Clijsters as a figure overshadowing the game, at least for now.

But by marching through the field at Dubai, Wozniacki demonstrated a strength of mind as well as a game strong enough to indicate that Clijsters has at least one rival to concern her, here and now. After all, the Dane is the one who just took the world No 1 ranking back from her.

The final in Dubai may have been disappointing, with Svetlana Kuznetsova's blizzard of unforced errors getting as much attention as Wozniacki's victory, but taken as a body of work, Wozniacki had a fine tournament.

She dismissed lesser opponents, she fought back from three set points to blunt a strong challenge from Jankovic and her very presence on the other side of the net seemed to unhinge both Shahar Peer and Kuznetsova.

The film director Woody Allen famously said "80 per cent of success is showing up" and Wozniacki seems to have digested that bit of wisdom. She does not have to play beyond her capabilities to win, and just by "showing up" she turned Peer and Kuznetsova into jelly.

Wozniacki also showed a bit of edge when she made clear, at least on her Twitter account, that No 1 matters to her. Tennis will never rival, say, boxing for chest-beating, but the electronic exchange between Wozniacki ("got my number one ranking back") and Clijsters ("Congrats :-) ha ha") practically constitutes trash talk in their more refined world.

The game now has "Caroline versus Kim" as a starting point for all further discussion and a focal point for all further examination. History indicates that a "who is No 1?" rivalry can practically carry this sport, and Wozniacki just demonstrated her readiness to be part of the discussion.

Tennis: Kim Clijsters beat Caroline Wozniacki

Clijsters beat Caroline Wozniacki to win WTA Championships 2010.

Kim Clijsters beat top seed and World no.1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-3 5-7 6-3 in the final of the WTA Championships Doha 2010.

Despite this loss however, Wozniacki gets to finish 2010 as the world no. 1

Clijsters looked in ominous touch at the beginning as she broke Wozniacki in her very first service game. The top seed got one break back but the triple US Open champion Clijsters kept putting pressure on her opponent.

The Belgian got two more breaks of serve as her array of strokes meant that Wozniacki was doing most of the retrieving from side to side. Eventually the Belgian proved too good as she closed the 1st set 6-3.

The second set saw Clijsters breaking Wozniacki early again to take a 4-1 lead. Just as one thought that the match could get over soon, there was a fine comeback from the number 1 seed who took three games on the trot to make it four games apiece.

Clijsters lost her service once more at 5-all as Wozniacki got into her groove to pocket the second set and push the match in the decider.

Unfortunately for her though, she couldn’t sustain that momentum as Clijsters got the crucial break of serve in the sixth game of the third to take a 4-2 lead. That one break of serve was enough for her to win the match and secure her third WTA Championships title.

Tennis: Caroline Wozniacki secured the year-end

Caroline Wozniacki secured the year-end number one spot in the world ranking on Thursday, becoming the first ever Dane to do so, but only after suffering an early fright at the WTA Tour Championships here.

For an hour, the 20-year-old top seed seemed in danger of going out of the event, until she worked out the clever tactical patterns of Francesca Schiavone, the French Open champion from Italy, and triumphed 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Not until midway through the second set did that happen as Wozniacki swapped containment for going on the offensive against Schiavone, who mixed topspin with slice, slow-balling with pace, and net attacks with base-lining, all with equal facility.

Twice Wozniacki's father-coach Piotr came to the courtside, where he knelt before his daughter to offer unusually animated advice.

It seemed to help, although the fourth and the fifth games of the third set were also fiercely contested and pivotal in preventing a Schiavone comeback.

"This is something I have dreamed about since I was a little girl," said Wozniacki, who will become the youngest year-end number one since Martina Hingis in 2000.

"I am really happy and proud about what I have achieved this year."

Wozniacki joined Australia's Samantha Stosur as a semi-finals qualifier from the maroon group at the expense of Elena Dementieva, the Olympic champion from Russia, who will be out even if she beats Schiavone on Friday.

Asked what she might splash out on to celebrate her new status, Wozniacki said: "When I do well I like to buy a small present for myself. I usually like handbags or sunglasses -- they make good accessories -- but I might buy presents for all the people around me."

With her round robin wins here, the Dane has done enough to prevent Vera Zvonareva, the Russian world number two, from overtaking her in the ranking.

Schiavone chiselled a break of serve in the fourth game and, Wozniacki, who unexpectedly lost the night before to Stosur, suddenly began to look anxious.

But a turning point came with a controversy in the fourth game of the second set, when Wozniacki appealed to the Hawkeye computerised replay system.

To the surprise of many she got an 'out' call on her backhand cross-court reversed -- only for Schiavone to make her own, very animated appeal.

The Italian complained that the line judge's call had denied her a chance of trying to return the ball, but the umpire disagreed.

That annoyed Schiavone, firing her up to cling on to her service game for 1-3 after a long tussle. There immediately followed another lengthy struggle in which Wozniacki was made to survive two deuces before holding serve and reaching 4-1 for a stranglehold on the second set.

In the third, the Dane saved a break back point for 2-2 and followed it by winning the rally of the match, sprinting three times behind the baseline to retrieve the ball and then wowing the crowd with a counter-attacking cross-court angled drive.

"It was really difficult," admitted Wozniacki. "I just had to hang on and keep my focus, and then be a little bit more aggressive."

Kim Clijsters, playing her first tournament since the successful defence of her US Open title six weeks ago, made sure of qualifying for the semi-finals with victory over Victoria Azarenka.

Clijsters overcame the world number ten from Belarus 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, guaranteeing that both she and Zvonareva, who she plays on Friday, will go through.

Earlier, Dementieva beat Stosur, the world number five, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), but by taking the opening set the Aussie did enough to secure her passage.

Wozniacki downs Sharapova, Federer reaches quarters

Grit was not going to be enough to get Maria Sharapova past No 1 seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark on Monday, especially not after the Russian conceded nine double-faults - including three in a row - and a total of 36 unforced errors.

Wozniacki, the 2009 runner-up, wrapped up a 6-3, 6-4 fourth-round win over Sharapova, who has failed to make it even as far as the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows since winning the 2006 title.

Doing "what she does best," as Sharapova herself put it, Wozniacki got to nearly every ball and hammered it back, stretching points on and on and on until her opponent missed the mark.

"I felt like I was playing well out there," Wozniacki said, then made sure everyone understood a key concept by adding, "I made her do those errors."

Indeed, she did. Rare is the opponent who can trade powerful baseline groundstrokes with three-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova and figure out a way to put her on the defensive, but that's exactly what Wozniacki managed to do as early evening shadows crept across the blue court in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Caroline Wozniacki beats Maria Sharapova in US Open

Caroline Wozniacki celebrates her victory over Maria Sharapova at the US Open in New York. Photograph: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

It would have made a great final. Instead, Caroline Wozniacki justified her top seeding and ensured that she would go on to meet Dominika Cibulkova in the quarter-finals and Maria Sharapova, much to the disgust of the photographers, was sent home.

Wozniacki, a keen boxing fan and a friend of Denmark's world super middleweight champion, Mikkel Kessler, was cool and commanding in a slugfest before beating the Russian 6-3, 6-4. It was not as easy a victory as the score might suggest.

Sharapova's serve deserted her at key moments, suggesting her retuned action to accommodate her lingering shoulder problems is not clicking properly, although she has not used that as an excuse in this tournament, having cruised past some outclassed opponents. Yesterday she sent down nine double faults and hit 36 unforced errors.

"She's a fighter but to be honest I'm just happy to win," Wozniacki said, charming the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, who maybe now are convinced that the Dane is worth her seeding, despite continued sniping in the media.

Sharapova's Russian compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova, who is seeded 11th, was not so gracious after losing 7-5, 7-6 to the unfancied Cibulkova. She said: "I just didn't feel good. I was very flat. I think she plays good but my level is higher. I played against myself, not against her."

In the men's fourth round, Gaël Monfils had one of his "on" days in beating another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. Gasquet, who is even more erratic than Monfils, had not dropped a set until yesterday. He conceded: "I think that's my fault. But that's tennis."

Mardy Fish, who came to New York in great form (he beat Andy Murray in Cincinnati), was no match for Novak Djokovic, who won 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. The Serb will play Monfils in the quarter-finals.

"Novak played great today," Fish said. "He puts a lot of pressure on you with his movement. He's probably one of the three fastest guys on tour. I just didn't execute, but it's been a great summer."

George Morgan joins Oliver Golding in the next round of the boys' tournament, after beating Roberto Quiroz of Ecuador 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. A player to watch might by the Irishman Sam Barry, who looked terrific in beating the American Nick Chappell in straight sets.

Caroline Wozniacki Childhood photo

Let’s continue our traditional series of photos of women’s tennis players when they were children.

It’s not hard to tell that the person in the above picture is Caroline Wozniacki – she hasn’t changed much, actually not a lot of time has passed, she’s still only 20.

The young Dane has seven WTA singles titles under her belt, and can be proud of reaching the final of the 2009 US Open. In addition, she is currently ranked fourth, and was once ranked as high as No.2. Plus, she is the only Danish woman in the Top 500 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

Remember the interview with 13-year-old Wozniacki? Don’t skip that one if you haven’t seen it.